Governor awards Taos County Sheriff’s Office $397K
Funding to be used over three years to expand staffing
This past Friday (Sept. 9), Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office announced a plan to award $397,750 to the Taos County Sheriff’s Office over the next three years to help it fill at least three officer vacancies. The money comes from a total of $41.5 million the state distributed to a total of 29 state agencies from the Law Enforcement Recruitment Fund, monies that are expected to fund more than 300 new officers statewide.
Taos County Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe said the money will be of great benefit to his department, which he said has dealt with insufficient staffing since he took office in 2015. He and Sheriff-elect Steve Miera plan to use the money to pay for new deputies, who handle the majority of calls for the office. When he takes office in 2023, Miera has said he plans to rehire Hogrefe to be his undersheriff.
Hogrefe said the grant is the largest his office has received during his two terms as sheriff.
Gov. Lujan Grisham, who has faced criticism regarding the rise in crime across New Mexico during her time in office, raised wages for state police officers by 16 percent earlier this year. She described the grant as part of “a promise to New Mexicans to get more police officers on our streets.
“Every New Mexican deserves to feel safe in their community, to know that law enforcement is coming when they need help — that’s why we are continuing our priority investments in public safety, funding new officers that will make a real difference in communities both small and large across the state,” the press release continued.
According to the press release, Lujan Grisham’s office has dedicated $339 million to public safety capital outlay funding — “more than twice the amount appropriated in the previous eight years. In addition, the Lujan Grisham administration announced earlier this summer that the Department of Workforce Solutions is funding training and equipment costs for 100 new officers throughout the state at no cost to local departments.”